10 ways to close Ontario's gender pay gap

A new Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA-Ontario) report challenges the Ontario government to take 10 steps to close the province's persistent pay gap between men and women.

The report, 10 Ways To Close Ontario's Gender Pay Gap, shows women in Ontario still earn 28 per cent less than men - despite increased levels of education and workforce participation.

"At this rate, Ontario's gender pay gap is significant enough that women would have to work an extra three months a year in order to match men's income," says the report's author Mary Cornish, a legal expert in pay and employment equity. "Ontario is on the wrong side of history on this issue - it's time for a change."

Among the report's key findings:

While some progress has been made in decreasing the gender pay gap over the past generation, much of the decrease reflects men's declining income, rather than women's increasing income;